


A Quintessential College Experience

by spellingbee



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Magic still exists, New Year's Eve, Party, everyone is still their fantasy race, lucretia is angus' godmother and guardian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17317967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellingbee/pseuds/spellingbee
Summary: In which Angus convinces his guardian to step out of her comfort zone and Lucretia falls head over heels for the girl of her dreams.





	A Quintessential College Experience

 “Let me get this straight,” said Lucretia, gingerly setting her cup of tea on the table beside her. “You were invited to a New Year’s party. A _college_ New Year’s party.”

“Yes ma’am!” said Angus, excitedly clasping his hands behind his back and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I was invited by some of my friends in my psychology class!”

Lucretia brought her newly-free hand up to massage her forehead. “Your friends from your  _ college _ psychology course invited you to a  _ college _ party. On New Year’s Eve.”

“Yes ma’am!” Angus said again. “I would really love to go, miss Lucretia, ma’am, so please say yes!” Now his hands were clasped under his chin, his eyes wide with excitement and anticipation. Lucretia sighed.

“Who,  _ exactly _ , invited you to this party, Angus?”

“Oh, it was Magnus Burnsides and Julia Waxman! You and Magnus are friends, aren’t you, ma’am?”

Lucretia relaxed ever so slightly. She was, indeed, friends with Magnus--or, perhaps “friends” was too strong of a word? She didn’t want to presume their relationship was as close as that. At any rate, she knew Magnus well enough to know he wouldn’t invite her 12-year-old godson to a party for any nefarious reasons. Still, he was  _ literally twelve goddamn years old _ , and she wasn’t entirely comfortable allowing a young boy, no matter how intelligent and observant, attend a college party with only Magnus (and most likely Julia, Magnus’ girlfriend) to watch over him. But...he really did want to go, and she didn’t want him to feel stifled and miss out on key experiences of growing up just because his guardian was an introverted homebody, as she considered herself. And parties were a quintessential college experience, weren’t they? Well, not that Lucretia had attended many college parties, herself. She’d been to exactly none, in fact. Which, well, if it  _ was _ a quintessential college experience, then she herself shouldn’t really miss out on it, either, should she?

“Alright,” she sighed after only a moment’s deliberation. “You may go to the party.” 

“Yes!” Angus shouted, jumping up and pumping his fit in the air. “Thank you so much, miss Lucretia! I’m so excited to go to my very first college party!”

Lucretia gave a small smile at Angus’ enthusiasm. It was good to see him so happy. “Yes, of course you are,” she said. “Of course, I can’t let you go to the party alone. I’m coming with you. You aren’t to leave my field of vision, and you need to obey me if I tell you to do something, or  _ not _ to do something, understand?”

Angus nodded vigorously. “Of course, Lucretia, ma’am!”

“And we’ll be leaving just after midnight, alright? We’ll stay just long enough to welcome the new year, and then we’ll head home and go to sleep. Also, if the party gets too wild, we’ll leave early, at my discretion. Does that sound agreeable?”

“Yes! Of course! Definitely! Oh, I’m so excited!” Angus reached forward and wrapped his hands around her middle, squeezing her tightly.

Lucretia, who had been raising Angus for a little over a year with no prior childcare experience, was always a bit shocked when he hugged her, or held her hand, or kissed her cheek, but she was starting to get used to the physical affection he so freely gave. Gently, a bit awkwardly, she leaned forward and put her arms around him as well, resting her chin atop his head. “I’m glad you’re excited, Angus. I hope you have fun.”

“Oh, I will!” Angus pulled back, bouncing on his toes again. “Magnus says all his friends will be there, and I really want to meet them all, and--and--a party, miss Lucretia, a real party!” He gave a little squeal and then turned and raced off to his bedroom, presumably to write his feelings in his journal, or to accept Magnus’ invitation via email, or to scream into his pillow. Lucretia wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do, but they were all equally viable options.

Lucretia felt the slight smile she’d been wearing drop as Angus left the room. She turned back to her tea and drained the cup in one swallow, wincing as the hot liquid scorched her tongue and throat. A party. A  _ college  _ New Year’s party. 

She was going to die.

 

===========

 

The evening of the party saw Lucretia and Angus standing by the door to their apartment, going through a detailed checklist.

“Alright. You have your phone, right?”

Angus reached into his coat pocket and held up the small smartphone. “Check!” he said, then put it back in his pocket.

“And it’s all charged?”

“Yes, ma’am! I kept it on the charger all day, just to make sure!”

Lucretia nodded, placing a check next to the word “phone” in her notebook. “Good. Do you have your gloves?”

Angus held up his hands, which were clad in thick, bright green gloves. “Check!”

Lucretia put another check next to the word “gloves.” Quickly, she scanned her list again to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. “Oh, yes,” she said, “do you have some snacks?”

Grinning, Angus reached into an inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a bag of mixed nuts, then reached in again and pulled out two chocolate-chip granola bars. “I never leave home without sustenance, miss Lucretia!” he said, carefully tucking them away again.

Lucretia gave him a soft smile. “Good boy,” she said affectionately. She made another check on her list, scanned the page again, nodded, and closed the book, tucking it into her bag. They were ready for their first college party. Lucretia was incredibly nervous, not only because this party might prove to be a danger to Angus, who was in fact a small child, but also because she had never been to a party, and in fact went out of her way to avoid parties.

Really, what was there to  _ like _ about parties? Especially parties as wild and crazy as college New Year’s Eve parties were bound to be. Loud music, dim lights, alcohol and drugs, people dancing and flailing and laughing too loudly and getting too close, crowding the rooms, crushing in on her--

Lucretia worried at her lip with her teeth. “You know, Angus,” she began, “I’ve been thinking, and--maybe we shouldn’t go to the party. We could stay home, just you and me. We could watch the fireworks on TV, crack open a nice sparkling cider to toast to the new year. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Angus’ face fell, and Lucretia felt her heart stop. She couldn’t bear to see him looking so sad, not after the long months they’d both gone through without a smile in sight. No, no she couldn’t take it. 

“Never mind, Angus, we’ll go to the party. We’ll have a lot of fun, won’t we?” She forced a smile to her lips that she hoped seemed realistic.

Angus brightened immediately, stepping forward to hug her tightly. “Oh, please don’t scare me like that again, miss Lucretia!” he said, and his voice held the hint of a laugh, but a note of worry as well.

Lucretia patted him on the head. “I’m sorry, Angus. Of course I won’t do it again. Let’s go, shall we?”

Angus pulled back and nodded up at her, taking one of her hands in his and opening the door with his other. “Come on, miss Lucretia, ma’am! We don’t want to be late!”

Lucretia followed him out the door to the elevator, then out into the frigid outdoors. She couldn’t shake her worry, but she refused to turn back now. Maybe the party wouldn’t be too bad. As long as Angus remembered to stay near her (and he was such an obedient kid, really), then she could keep an eye on him and he would be fine. As for herself, well, she’d packed three books in her bag (her notebook, a sketchbook, and a new novel she'd started reading just that morning), so she could avoid socializing as much as possible. As long as the light was decent (she’d also packed a flashlight in case the lights were as dim as they always appeared in movies) and the music wasn’t  _ too _ loud and the crowd of party goers wasn’t  _ too _ big and wild, she should be fine. Well, she’d live, anyway. Probably.

They called a taxi and Angus confidently directed their driver to the party’s address, talking animatedly about the party, and about his college courses, and about his lifelong dream of becoming a world-renowned detective. Lucretia allowed herself another tiny smile as he chatted away.

The house in which the party would be held wasn’t too far away, they discovered as their driver let them out after just a few short minutes of driving. Lucretia paid the woman for the ride, then looked down at Angus, who took her hand again and pulled her to the front door. As Angus rang the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to answer, Lucretia used the time to take stock of her surroundings. 

The house was a rather nice home, in a friendly part of town. There was a well-tended garden in lieu of a lawn in the front of the house, and cheerful Christmas lights decorated the windows and around the doorframe, despite the fact that Christmas had been a week ago. The house also seemed rather quiet, which Lucretia found odd. Shouldn’t there be music booming from the house? Maybe it was a tamer party. She felt her spirits lift a bit--perhaps she and Angus could find a quiet corner in which to spend the evening.

The door opened. “Hey there, li’l buddy!” said the dwarvish man who opened the door. His beard was full and white, a pair of glasses perched atop his nose, behind which was a pair of kindly eyes. “You must be Angus, and--Lucretia, was it?”

“Yes sir!” said Angus, reaching out and vigorously shaking the man’s hand. “You must be Mr. Merle, right? I’ve heard a lot about you from Magnus and it’s so nice to meet you!”

“Ah, kid,” said Merle, in a rather gruff voice. “Just Merle’s fine. Uh, why don’t you kids go on in and make yourselves at home!” He held the door open and stepped to the side to allow them in, and Lucretia stepped inside with Angus.

Lucretia’s nerves were growing, buzzing higher and higher with each second it took to cross the threshold and enter the living room. The house was much too quiet for a college party. She could hear talking and laughing, yes, but not the amount or volume she’d expect for a wild party. Soft music was playing from somewhere in the house, again, not nearly as loud as she’d been prepared for. Something was off, and she gripped Angus’ hand tighter.

They stepped into the living room.

The lights were bright, Lucretia noticed. She saw a couch, a loveseat, two armchairs, and a beanbag chair on the floor. A Christmas tree stood in one corner of the room, bare of decorations. There was a card table set up in the middle of the room, upon which sat a few ceramic mugs and a board game. Eight faces turned to them as she and Angus entered the room.

Lucretia’s heart stopped for the second time that night.

This was no wild, crazy college party. No, it was much,  _ much _ worse.

This was an  _ intimate friends and family gathering. _

 

**Author's Note:**

> poor lucretia, lmao. shoulda got the details before agreeing to go to this party!!
> 
> Thanks for reading! This will update sporadically, but I do intend to complete it. Any feedback would be welcome! :)
> 
> During 2019, I plan on posting something on this account every week, regardless of length or quality--the goal here is to simply write something every day this year, and publish them where others can read them.  
> I sort of cheated this week, since I haven't had much time to write--most of this was actually written last year, when my zucchini requested it (sorry for making you wait an entire year+ ace!!), but I did edit it and add a little before posting it here, so it still technically counts!!
> 
> lupcretia 4 life ;)


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